Added a New Gaming Link: Atlas of Mystara

Anyone whose relatively new to this blog, if look down the page, you'll notice a curious sight. You'll see how one year I posted about a hundred entries on this blog. Astonishing, right? I am amazed too. However, there's a secret to that phenomena.


See, whenever I saw a blog I liked enough. I would add it to my blog roll. Whenever, I discovered a gaming or comics-related link that struck my fancy. I added it to the column 'Comics and Games links'. Not the correct title, but you get my drift.


Heck, awhile back I made reference to the webcomic Darths & Droids. A perfect example of site where a link is provided outside of specific post.


I haven't done such in a long time. Not since I stopped using my blog as a pseudo-homepage. Can make Analytics confusing otherwise...


However, tonight I am making an exception to my hiatus from such a practice.


Because of social media, I learned of Thorfinn Tait's cartography projects, which are posted online. Among those projects is the D&D, BECMI (Basic-Expanded-Companion-Master-Immortal) to be precise, game setting of Mystara.


Don't want to dig out old D&D books or want to peruse maps of one Dungeons and Dragons older settings?


Well, now you can at the Atlas of Mystara!


Pretty cool site!


Happy Gaming


Next time.

A Quartet of Classic Macys Thanksgiving Clips

Another Thanksgiving and Cyber-Monday has come and gone. Over the years, I would occasionally watch the annual Macys Thanksgiving Parade. One thing I always enjoyed was the balloons, floats, and performances that would pertain to this blog such as Peanuts and Spider-Man. Recently, while perusing Youtube I discovered that He-Man and the Masters of the Universe had a float during both 1985 and 1986 parades.


So I went on a Macys Thanksgiving Parade clip binge.


Around that time, I decided to do something I have never done on this blog before. Share video clips.  So I researched how to do so. Learned out embedding. Then, I discovered blogger has an insert video function that pretty much cuts out that step if the video is from Youtube.


So without much ado, here are the clips of both He-Man and Marvel floats from 1986, 1985, 1989, and 1987.


Here's Dolph Lundgren (who portrayed He-Man in the live-action film from the 80's) narrating the He-Man float during the 1986 Macy's Thankgiving Parade. His narration is kind of wooden but the story the performers convey is decent given that its a float.

I liked the previous year's He-Man float better as well as appearances of the evil Horde. Strangely enough, characters that didn't appear until later are among the characters used...

Vividly recall as a kid enjoying the Marvel from 1989 which much in the same vein as the Masters of the Universe floats. Would spend the next decade watching ensuing Macy's Thanksgiving Parade for a repeat performance to no avail.

What I didn't know and didn't learn until recently was that Marvel had a similar float back in 1987. Captain America is the featured hero. Got to say watching Captain America manhandle the Hulk is hilarious!

Hope you all enjoyed this belated touch of a Thanksgiving tradition from the 1980s!


Next time.

AL: WOTC Wants Your Thoughts on Adventurers League

With the advent of what is dubbed the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons (not going to quibble with that specific), Wizards of the Coast has exhibited a fondness for feedback in the form of surveys. You can't blame Wizards (WOTC). Fourth edition and the GSL's failure could be attributed in part to WotC being within a bubble. WotC asking for feedback most assuredly has broken the bubble and may very well have contributed to fifth edition's success and the advent of DM's Guild. Whenever WotC tinkers with new rules, they release playtest versions and ask for feedback. However, WotC hasn't surveyed one aspect of their business all that much.


Organized Play has not been a focal point for any feedback. Which is odd because the current version of WotC's Organized Play, Adventurers League, probably plays an outsized role in recruiting and retaining gamers. Fear not. As of today, WotC has issued a survey on Organized Play.


Link to the Adventurers League Survey can be found HERE.






Your mileage may vary from mine... The survey does change depending on whether or not you've participated in Adventurers League (AL)...




Filling out the survey, it confirms my belief that Adventurers League only fulfills the minimum of what I want in an RPG. As someone who can't and is unwilling to commit wholeheartedly to a regular gaming environment, Adventurers League at my local game store scratches my gaming itch. However, the framework of the modules and their connection to the hardcover adventures don't satisfy everything I want out of a game. For the most part, modules are too modular and PCs only have a limited impact on the direction of the mod along with limited chances for role-play and character growth. Skyrim is more an open world, which allows for more creativity and use of skills than the average Adventurers League module. I am generalizing of course as not all modules and DMs are equal but within the confines of a survey that's the impression my answers convey. And of course, one does not simply play an AL mod within the allotted time if the group exceeds x number of characters as combat bogs down. While I appreciate combat, I am quite happy with the one combat per game session per module.


If your impressions of Adventurers League differ, cool. If you're like, yeah, you're right, cool. The more who fill out the survey, the merrier. AL isn't perfect; and it does feel like WotC has neglected it too much.  Hope WotC learns much and that this isn't the last Organized Play survey.


Happy Gaming.


Next time.

Time to Revise Gun vs Knight History Books!

We've read the history books. The Age of the Knight came to an end with advent of the gun. Secrets of the Shining Knight the Nova documentary on PBS examines both that question and the nature of the shiny plate armor the knight wore itself.

I am not going to discuss much of what Secrets of the Shining Knight here. It's a very excellent documentary. If you haven't seen it yet, you should. Get to watch plate mail forged!

So did guns eliminate the knight? Not quite the way the history books say. Yes, most armor isn't very effective against muskets. Remember the ridiculous looking lobster armor the knight is popularized as wearing? Not only is lobster armor the ultimate evolution of plate and medieval armor; but it worked against the musket balls of its time. Secrets of the Shining Knight demonstrates that quite excellently.

The following is an insight I gleaned from hints Secrets of the Shining Knight provides.

If the lobster armor worked, why did the shining knight go the way of the dodo? Because the lobster armor was expensive and the emerging nation-states with their standing armies didn't need the wealthy knight who wore the armor to fight their battles.

Shining knight armor disappeared because it was too expensive to field an army with the lobster armor required to resist the muskets of the time. Thus, began the trend of focusing on firepower over armor.

Talk about PBS's billing of 'Think Wednesday' living up to its moniker! Never would have thought of this post' s topic without seeing today's documentary.

Next time.

Geek Culture Sure Relies on the Net Quite a Bit

A blog entry or two I mentioned that I was finally able to watch wrestling again. Why? I didn't have cable; and the internet was subject to data caps. Sure, I could watch a wrestling match now and then. However, my available data would be significantly less. Rationing internet use isn't fun at all. Curiously, the amount of data consumed for what would be considered the simplest things, not talking watching wrestling matches here, would become more and more over the years...


Ah, what does this have to do with geek culture as I ascribe within the title, you may ask? Wrestling fans are geeks of sort as one does not just simply watch one or two hours of wrestling a week. Following geek culture requires quite a bit of data. Just think of how much one streams a week! From trailers to television shows to movies, not to mention video games, the internet is the realm of the geek. Thus to follow geek culture one must use the internet quite a bit. Besides, I frequently said I would explain my absence from wrestling one day. Here it is.


Instead of following wrestling bit by bit on social media, I can watch shows on Hulu, Netflix, or the WWE Network (or insert wrestling promotion). Also don't need to stock up on wrestling DVDs although there are some I'll still pick up.


Speaking of DVDs, remember when one can walk into a brick and mortar store and see aisles brimming with quite a variety? Yeah, not so much now. Nowadays, one is lucky if one can find a show past a certain season! Has Marvel's Agents of SHIELD had more than one season available on DVD? If it has I must have missed it.


You know where I can find seasons of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD? Netflix. While I waited what seems like years, cause it has, for Daredevil Season One to come out on DVD, I can watch both seasons plus all the other Netflix Marvel shows as well. Without hoping for a long, long time that it will soon arrive on DVD. Can also watch the new Voltron, Inspector Gadget, and Danger Mouse as well. So without the internet, reliable, non-rationed high speed internet, one simply does not have access to segments of geek culture.


Sometimes I wait quite a long time before watching a show. Too long. Plus, it's nice if my viewing of show attracts attention similar to a Nielsen family. That's what Hulu is for. Legion is great adaptation inspired by the X-men character Legion. The show does a terrific job reflection the unstable nature of the main character's mental state as each episode shifts in tone from one episode to the next. Although I think there's one character that's more Morrison than Claremont. Furthermore, Legion is very dark compared to all the other comic book based shows on the air in a very sophisticated fashion. Don't have cable so I couldn't have watched it. Plus thanks to Hulu the powers-that-be have another measurement of support. Same goes true for the NBC show Timeless. While I DVR'd Timeless, I fell behind that I eventually gave up and deleted my recordings. However, I was able to watch the show about a time travel show that illustrates how much one act can have profound effect on the timeline. All under the backdrop where the black hats aren't necessarily black hats. Really enjoy. While I may not like how Hulu goes about expiring shows, it does motivate me to watch it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have marathoned Timeless and discovered how much I greatly enjoyed it.


Video games - in the age of DRM do people actually truly own their video game? And it's a complete game? Nope. Heck, PC games are rarer in stores than DVDs! After years, Steam finally stopped working for me. Steam works again now.


The role-playing game industry is almost as bad. As much as I championed 4th edition D&D, WOTC's ill-advised 4th ed version of the OGL, the GSL (?), practically killed any variety of the RPG market in stores. As such, many RPG product are generally available primarily in ebook form. Plus there's software support and gaming via online.


Went from being avid anime watcher to barely watching any anime. Anime is too expensive for me to buy it completely unseen. So once I could watch anime on Hulu once more, I watched the anime Phantasy Star Online 2 The Animation. Yeah, that was another reason I had hankering to play some Phantasy Star when I downloaded Phantasy Star 2 for my phone... Great series. Not my Phantasy Star but it had enough Phantasy Star elements. Kind of wish the game would become available to play here in the States after watching it... Heck, I've even started watching a couple 'new' series that are airing on Hulu, Chronos Ruler and In Another World with My Smartphone. Been a very long time since I last watched an anime series on a weekly basis and not had the option to binge it. Heck, it's nice to watch anime regularly again!


So there you go. My rather long-winded account on how I can now fully experience geek culture (while arguing why the internet is necessary) as my internet experience is no longer constrained.


Next time

A Saturday Evening of Gaming (Of the Board and Party Variety)

I wrote back in January that I ended the year 2015 with an evening of board games and party games. A couple Saturdays ago, such an evening arose once more. Much like that January entry, I'll provide a list of the games played as well as my two cents. With a couple exceptions, I never played any of these games before. One thing all the games have in common is that they require a modicum of social acumen.


Disclaimer: It's been a couple weeks so not only will details be fuzzy but I may get some of the names wrong.


Code Names - Didn't get an exact feel for how the game is played. I gathered that two players from two different teams select a word and the teammates must select the corresponding words best fit the hints given. Plays fast. Seems easy enough.


SuperFight - Imagine if Cards Against Humanity and a dueling game were merged together and the winner is whomever can convince the other players not involved in that duel that their selection is better? SuperFight is that game. Enormously fun. If your group likes to argue versus match ups, this is the game for you.


Two Rooms and a Bomb - My second time playing. Personally, I prefer the nontraditional cards, ie the cards that are not Red Team/Bomb and Blue Team/President, as I like how they spice up the game. One of those the more players, the better games.


Ultimate Werewolf - A narrative social game where you have to figure out who is the werewolf while trying not to be killed because other people think you're the werewolf. One of the players is indeed the werewolf. I played a villager, followed by hunter, and then villager killed by the hunter. Yeah... I was the failing end all three games...


Resistance - Another game that I played on New Year's. Still haven't worked out the kinks. My strategy was to approve everything. Didn't work.


Masquerade - A game where you have role and that role can provide a unique tactic that can propel you to victory. The catch is that another player can switch that role and you (possibly both of you) don't know. A lot of fun. Since there are ten roles/cards, would be interesting to see how a game of ten players would unfold.


Don't recall if there were any other games played. An enjoyable evening. Hope another such evening occurs before next New Year's.

Thanksgiving 2015

Since I did a series of Halloween posts, its only fitting that I blog about Thanksgiving. Unlike my ode to Halloween, this will be only commentary on several Thanksgiving-related shows. Helps that there were no Thanksgiving comics that I was aware of. Fret not, I did have some RPG-related ideas!


Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - Ever since I was a child, I'd watch the Macy's parade keeping an eye out for the Spider-Man balloon or any other comics-related float. Didn't see Spidey in this year's parade. Did see a Pikachu balloon though. That was rather neat. There was the obligatory Snoopy balloon although this particular balloon depicted Snoopy flying through the air Superman style. Absolutely loved the 50 year anniversary homage float to A Charlie Brown Christmas!


SNL Thanksgiving - a collection of Saturday Night Live Thanksgiving skits. While I found many of skits to be a chuckle at best there were a few gems. Loved Eddie Murphy in Mister Robinson's Neighborhood. Don Cheadle's (War Machine in the MCU) Ladies Man was a hoot. Akroyd-Belushi-Murray were amusing in an absurd manner. While I was familiar with Martin Short's character solely from a Saturday Morning cartoon from years ago, that was hilarious. In contrast, The Bears fans and crystal clear gravy invoked nostalgia chuckles - as did the Jordon Gordon-Levitt (third installment of the Nolan Batman trilogy and hopefully producer of the Sandman film) skit.


In contrast I found the Scream Queens Thanksgiving episode an absolute laugh riot. Watched a recording on Thanksgiving Day; and I was thankful for the smile it brought to my face. Scream Queens was a casualty of comic book show Tuesday; however, I found this episode to be fairly accessible despite not having watched in quite some time. An excellent Thanksgiving-oriented episode. A shame that shows rarely do Thanksgiving episode much nowadays - that I am aware of.  Hope they do release Screams Queens on DVD some day. Not everyone has Netflix.


Charlie Brown Thanksgiving - don't recall why I didn't watch Its the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown but I took advantage of the lax television schedule to watch this gem. Charlie Brown Thanksgiving still has its magical charm after all these years. Finally occurred to me how disturbing it is seeing Woodstock eating turkey. Woodstock must be a big fan of bush meat... The subsequent telling of the pilgrim story albeit Peanuts-style is a nice attempt. Probably the major achievement is that it includes Lucy in a Thanksgiving special and uses her fairly well. Gets the Miles Standish bit wrong which anyone who has seen the following show will know...


The Pilgrims: American Experience - Miles Standish was the hired muscle. The requisite fighter-type in almost any RPG. Miles Standish aside, The Pilgrims: American Experience is an outstanding documentary! I learned more about the Pilgrims than I ever did in any history class. Some interesting tidbits were the pilgrims digging through Indian graves, propping the dying up on trees with musket in hand to fool the nearby Indians, and planting corn atop the recent dead - although the latter two are more historical conjecture. I heartily recommend this documentary for any GM that runs either a historical campaign or campaign influenced heavily by history. Vampire, Wraith, Werewolf, and Call of the Cthulhu gamers may find this of particular interest. Heck, I can imagine players of the Solomon Kane setting for Savage Worlds could get some mileage out of the history of the pilgrims. On a more somber note: this was among Roger Rees's last roles. He played the Sheriff in Mel Brook's Robin Hood: Men In Tights. Rees does an excellent job portraying William Bradford's various soliloquy - based on Bradford's writings.


Secrets of the Dead: Jamestown's Dark Winter - Another excellent documentary. Whereas the Pilgrims were a success story, Jamestown was a place where one hoped they survived the experience. It became more of a charnel house during its dark winter when the surrounding Indians laid siege to the colonialist trapping them inside the walls of the fort as disease and famine runs rampant. That's just the background to the documentary! What it the documentary examines is the fate of a young girl and why her remains were found in the state they were. Quite simply, it was like a reverse zombie-ism! Instead of the dead rising to eat the living, the living grave dug to feast. Yep, a confirmed case, albeit one or three, of a cannibalism at Jamestown. I can imagine quite the RPG scenarios that a GM can devise from this! Certainly, New World of Darkness Gamers could use this an example of Morality rules. Various games such as Call of the Cthulhu could use this an example of insanity caused by more mortal hands. The old World of Darkness fan in me envisions hordes of wraiths and banes swirling around the area where the fort once stood.

The Last Witch Hunter (Halloween 2015 Part 3)

Here's my belated review, and third installment of Halloween-related stuff that I watched during the week of Halloween, of The Last Witch Hunter. The Last Witch Hunter also marks another pop culture entry for Dungeons & Dragons as the Witch Hunter is based on Vin Diesel's D&D character.


How was The Last Witch Hunter you may ask? I felt it was superb film destined for cult classic stardom. Vin Diesel and Co. turn in an excellent genre film that methodically develops a new setting while providing a decent dose of excitement. The film's approach to a flaming sword was fairly plausible as was its more fantastic elements. We learn how witches operate and the rules of magic in The Last Witch Hunter setting. No small feat for a two-hour production. Loved how dream walkers were handled. Wheel of Time and Sword of Truth fans should be pleased by how effective the dream walkers are. For what I assumed was a modern-day sword and sorcery story, the plot contained more cloak and dagger elements than I would have expected. I'd elaborate more but that would ruin major plot points. The film ends with a set-up for future witch hunter adventures. I know I look forward to any sequels be they movies or TV. D&D fans should be pleased.

Human Target

Last week, I watched the first two episodes of the Human Target. So far so good. Its a nice action/adventure show about a bodyguard named Christopher Chance that, as the name implies, makes himself a target. Jackie Earle Haley (I think) who played Rorsach and will play Freddy Krueger also stars as a regular. So that is two performances in adaptions of DC Entertainment properties.

Honestly, I am not all that familiar with the character so I don't know how faithful the show is. I never read the earlier comics nor the most recent series from around 2004-5. DC is releasing a 6 part mini-series, which if I get it will be via trade paperback.

For those that are interested in reading a little bit more of the early (circa 70's) comic book appearances of Christopher Chance, the blog Diversions of the Groovy Kind has a snippet or two.

GIJoe, Star Trek, and RAW 11/23 Thoughts

On the 23rd, I saw GIJoe and the latest Star Trek movies for the second time as well as watched the 11/23 Monday Night RAW. Since its been awhile since I last updated my blog I figured I'd share my thoughts. Besides I have been meaning to comment on both the Star Trek and GiJoe movies.

11/23 Monday Night RAW - This week's RAW was a three hour Thanksgiving celebration that had Jesse Ventura as the guest host. While not a stellar show, it was still a very good episode that advanced things nicely. We got two matches set up for the next PPV, two new stars getting a decent push, and a stellar appearance from Jesse Ventura. Every segment that had Ventura in it was golden. John Cena and CM Punk put on an excellent match for "free". Chris Jericho as usual was excellent on the mic. On the downside, all matches has predictable outcomes with the exception of the battle royal.

GIJoe - First time I saw GIJoe I thought it was an excellent movie. Upon a second viewing months after that I am glad that my impression is still the same. I felt GIJOE was an excellent adaption of a childhood favorite to the silver screen much like Transformers. Unless one does not tolerate deviation I don't see why any GIJoe fan would not want to see this movie. Heck, those unfamiliar with GIJoe would probably enjoy this as well. I look forward to any sequels.

Star Trek - Like GIJoe, Star Trek was just as good the second time around months after first seeing it. In other words, awesome. Other than that I am not sure if I can add any more praise to this successful revamp of a beloved franchise that hasn't been said already. Definately looking forward to sequels.

Castle is Now on Hulu

The ABC show Castle is now available on Hulu. Why is this pertinent to this blog? Very, very tangentially. Nathan Fillion who starred in Firefly/Serenity currently stars in Castle. So for those curious where the actor who play Captain Malcolm Reynolds is up to, here is one of his current roles. While I have seen a couple episodes, I didn't see all of them. Since its now on Hulu, for however long that may be, I have chance to watch the entire show.

Donald Duck is 75 years old

Over at Newsarama, there's a nice little article commemorating Donald Duck's 75th anniversary. I have been a fan of Donald Duck since childhood. So I figured I would give mention it here. It also fits the general topic of this blog as Carl Barks' Donald Duck comics are an influential work that is revered to this day.

My response to "S&S vs HF" Part 1

Read James Mishler's comments pertaining to an essay about the impact of Sword & Sorcery and High Fantasy on D&D by Santiago. I will comment on Santiago's post once I have time to digest it. Instead I will focus on James Mishler's, because that's where I read it first.

James argues that the classic S&S character wasn't fated to become a hero like those in high fantasy and 'new school' gaming. Characters such as Conan and Elric were self-made and not destined. Problem is that we first meet Conan as king of Aquilonia. Conan is already at the top. Only two Conan stories, written by Howard, occur after the first story chronologically. Narratively, Conan is predestined to become Aquilonia's king because the reader is first introduced to him as king. As for Elric, fate plays a hand throughout all the early stories. Heck, Elric inadvertently ushers in the new world, aka ours, because that is his purpose. So I wouldn't say that Sword and Sorcery characters achieved their success entirely on their own.

I do agree that fate plays a much stronger role in High Fantasy. That's because High Fantasy is about Good versus Evil. In contrast Sword and Sorcery is not about good versus evil nor does it try to prove a point. Unlike S&S, the protagonists face circumstances that may require sacrifice or result in tragedy. Honestly, Elric would also qualify as a High Fantasy character. Just not within traditional definitions. Hence, the creation of Dark Fantasy genre.

Honestly, I don't really think High Fantasy gaming truly exists, at least not in D&D. Sure a game may try to emulate LotR. Problem is its only an emulation not a true representation of high fantasy. Few game systems, D&D included, can accomodate the genre trappings.

Likewise, true S&S style games don't exist either. Sword and Sorcery stories show snapshots of their protagonists lives. S&S does not occur in a day-to-day manner for it is more episodic. After all, many S&S stories weren't published, much less written, in chronological order. So how is a campaign that proceeds in a continuous, day-to-day fashion a true Swords and Sorcery campaign.

The final contention is that modern gaming, particular D&D 4E, follows High Fantasy literaturewhere characters cannot fail or are meant to. There's problems in that assertion. One, fourth edition is more gamist than any previous edition. Two, the game and its players have more than just literary influences. Third, Sword and Sorcery characters have the same success rate as their High Fantasy counterparts. Its all predetermined. Fourth, characters tend to start out as experienced novices in RPGs. They rarely do in fiction, S&S or High Fantasy. The Conan in Tower of the Elephant is inexperienced as a thief but he is an experienced fighter.

If there is one thing that fourth edition, and gaming in general, can be accused of is that is has de-emphasized its Sword and Sorcery roots.

Hulu and Wrestling

I have mentioned in a previous entry that I am taking a sabbatical from watching wrestling. Recently, I have discovered that Hulu has episodes of both ECW and Smackdown available. Smackdown is a show I have been meaning to watch for awhile. Even more since the draft. So I am delighted that I can now watch it. Hopefully I can watch the entire program. The first time I tried watching an episode it stopped playing after the first half hour.

Been watching anime

A week passed without any posts on this blog. Heck, my participation/lurking on other blogs has not been very much this last week. Why? Most of my 'blogging' time has been spent watching anime. My local My TV station has Funimation programming late at night. Since Basilisk got me back into anime and manga, I have been watching more and more. Lately, I have started watching an hour and a half almost every night. Right now I watch Black Cat, Aquarion, and Buso Renkin (sp?). One of these days I'll compose my thoughts on them.